The Higher Grounds
by Punch Buggy
Summary: After the battle of Toba Fushimi, Himura Kenshin wanders aimlessly. But when he saves the daughter of an innkeeper, he gets involved in a string of hidden ambitions and revenge that makes life as a rurouni just that more complicated.


Well, my third fic! I've had this one planned out for a year or two, and started writing it in seventh grade. But I recently found it, read it, and decided it was utter crap. I seriously think I threw it out, because I went looking for it again a few days ago and couldn't find it. XD Hopefully this version will be better!

Disclaimer: I own a Starbucks mocha frappuccino, which I will now go snatch out of the fridge because I'm thirsty and I need my caffeine.

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**The Higher Grounds**

**By Punch Buggy**

A lone redheaded warrior walked briskly down a long dirt path. Eyes downcast, he occasionally leaned his head back, gazing up at the sky with an emotionless mask on his face. A fringed straw hat was placed carelessly on top of his head, obscuring the pair of distinctive eyes and hair from view. He had been walking for weeks, trying his best to distance himself from the raging battlefield of Toba Fushimi.

He wondered if his sandals were still in any sort of walking condition, having only stopped his journey for the necessities. Other than that, he had willed himself to keep trudging forward through wind, rain, and heat. His mind was like his eyes; glazed over and hazy. He did not think as he moved forward. The only thing keeping him going was a single promise. He would live; if only for her.

He continued day after day, keeping as low a profile as possible, knowing someone would recognize him if he walked out in the open. To avoid conflict, the redhead stuck to the shadows and deserted pathways, at least until he was in an area that knew less about him. He would never return to Kyoto; if he went back, there would be unwanted fighting. But even more so, he couldn't bear to go back and face her. He had killed her with his very own hands; he didn't _deserve_ to place flowers before her grave. It was hard enough to make that grave and hand her diary over to the temple.

He had taken leave of Kyoto soon after, carrying only his newly obtained sakabatou forged by the prestigious sword smith Shakku Arai, personal items, a small supply of food, and Tomoe's scarf. The silky piece of cloth was wrapped loosely around the redhead's neck, unmoving through every sort of weather imaginable. It was the source of his energy; his lifeline. He would occasionally dip his nose into the fabric and breathe in the lingering scent of haku baiko, the memories of Tomoe's and his time in Otsu resurfacing. When he was in Otsu, for the first time in his life, he felt content. _Loved_, even. He felt as if he was born to be a simple farmer and druggist; saving lives, instead of taking them. True, he felt the desire for repentance when he was there, but somehow the thoughts his mind once fed upon disappeared. His life was complete then, with Tomoe. But as he walked now, his mind and soul were back to square one. His life was a white-washed canvas; although it would eventually be painted over with a new picture, the old picture would never truly fade away.

Himura Kenshin stopped abruptly, hearing voices. Pulling up his hat, he turned and searched the large grassy field about twenty feet away from him for any kind of sign of movement. The corner of his eye caught a bright flash of color, and he honed in on it, drifting off the path and onto the grassy field. Swiftly trudging up the steep hill, Himura crouched down behind a large patch of plants and gazed down at the scene playing out before him. A young woman was curled up on the grass, shakily covering her head as a middle aged man leaned over her and bellowed something Himura couldn't quite make out. Two other men were standing a few feet away from her, making her surrounded on all sides. They appeared to be harassing the girl, yelling loudly into her ear and laughing. Himura kept his distance, waiting for the opportune moment to race down there and stop them. The man who was leaning over her took on an outraged look, his lips twisting into a viscous snarl. Pulling back his fist, he aimed his punch straight at her face.

_Now. _The ex-fighter threw his hands down to push himself off the ground, his eyes blazing with their old luster. As he was about to jump into the scene, a strong arm encircled his neck, pulling him roughly back into a muscled chest. Himura's eyes widened, his hands quickly shooting up to grasp onto the arms. This man had hid his entire ki! It was either that, or a couple of weeks without the constant high of battle had dulled his abilities more than he thought. The redhead pushed his head back into the chest, struggling to look up at his captor. He couldn't see the man's face past his very own hat, which was currently being crushed between the wanderer's head and the unknown man's chest.

"Oi, Natsuki! Look what I've found here!" The man's burly voice called down to one of his friends, an egotistical smirk placed upon his lips. Apparently Natsuki was the one about to hit the girl, since the fist stopped in midair, hovering slightly in front of her before dropping to the man's side as he turned to find the source of the loudly spoken statement. Seeing his accomplice holding someone in a choking manner, Natsuki scowled.

"Kakamura! What the hell do you think you're doing?! I asked you to go survey the area, not kidnap someone!" The man called Natsuki yelled, getting up out of his kneeling position and walking towards his comrade. "Just bring the kid down here," he growled, rubbing his brow in frustration.

The man, now identified as Kakamura, huffed in annoyance and tightened his hold on Kenshin. "Here's the thing, kid," he whispered gruffly, "You can put up a fight or you can obey. I'll tell you this right now; if you fight, I have absolutely no qualms about knocking you out and throwing you over my shoulder. Got it?" Kakamura questioned, not expecting any sort of response from the frail redhead. Seeing the kid was not going to struggle, he kept his iron grip on him and began his declination down the steep hill.

Kenshin stumbled a few times, finding it increasingly difficult to merely walk down a hill in a choke hold. As soon as the man had latched onto him, the ex-hitokiri knew he was in trouble. He could easily escape from the hold he was currently in, but that would cause a slew of unwanted problems. He wasn't an assassin anymore; he couldn't simply kill off the people who discovered his identity.

Ever since Tomoe's death and becoming a bodyguard, people knew of his appearance. Being out in the open instead of navigating the familiar shadows gave people a good view of the silent killer, even if they tended to exaggerate his appearance more often than not. He wasn't that far from Kyoto as of now, so surely these men must have heard at least some rumors. If he was to do anything too spectacular they would easily piece two and two together, so Kenshin decided to go along with it. When he got the chance, he would break free, save the girl, and quickly exit the scene as soon as possible.

"You may be the most skilled fighter I know, but you're the biggest idiot I know as well," Natsuki taunted as Kakamura approached, the tiny redhead barely visible past his large biceps. "Where'd you find this kid, anyway?"

"Behind the plants."

Natsuki scowled. "You mean he was spying?" Seeing Kakamura's nod of the head, he motioned for the redhead to be released. Kakamura grunted in response, roughly dropping Kenshin to the ground beside the silently shaking girl. The redhead landed on his stomach, having saved his face from meeting dirt by pivoting his arms into a curled position. The other two men who had been simply standing there during this whole exchange stepped closer, one man behind Kenshin and one behind the girl.

"Why have you been watching us?" Natsuki snarled, his eyebrows furrowed together in anger. Kenshin gave no response. What the man didn't know was that the redhead was baiting him, waiting for the moment when Natsuki went to strike. His plan was to latch onto whatever came flying at him and throw the man down. Simple, yet effective.

"Look at me when I speak!" Natsuki's temper flared, pulling back his arm once again and aiming at the teen's face. Kenshin calmly waited for when the blow would land, but nothing came. He was almost disappointed; that would have been his opportune moment. Lifting his head up, Kenshin found himself staring straight at the back of a flaming red kimono.

"Natsuki-kun! Leave him out of this!" The girl who had been the object of the assault cried, giving the man a tearfully stern glare.

At this point in time, Kenshin sat up and finally noticed how a young girl like her had stopped a fairly large man like Natsuki. She had caught his fist between both of her hands.

'_This girl…who is she?' _Kenshin thought, intending to find more information on her later. But as of now, he felt it was his place to intervene.

"You've taken things too far. I'll warn you once; stop what you're doing and walk away," Himura said coolly, trying his best to refrain from exposing his identity. He stood up, placing himself between the girl and Natsuki. Natsuki angrily ripped his fist from the girl's hands, standing to his full height and staring the younger man down.

"Speaking now, are you?" He sneered, "I suggest you back off. This is none of your business."

"It may not be, but I can't stand back and watch you hurt an innocent in good conscience."

Natsuki bared his teeth, outraged at this man's insolence. How dare someone speak out at him, the great Natsuki, son of a samurai?

"I don't think you know who she is. This girl; Hiruka Naomi. She is the cause of all our troubles! Her father kicked us out to the streets! All four of us!"

The girl pulled herself together and stood up, standing beside Kenshin with newfound courage. "Natsuki-kun, are you blind as of to why my father got rid of you? You four scared off all the customer's we had! Coming back drunk; ignoring your duties! We needed to recover from the war, and there you were causing more trouble than you were worth! We were friends, Natsuki-kun! But you changed, so I'm changing as well!"

Kenshin's eyes widened at hearing more of the situation. They had been friends? He had attacked her! Now that Kenshin had gotten a better look at Naomi, he realized that she was a young girl with a pleasant face. She had sleek brown bangs parted in the middle of her forehead, softly framing her facial features and large hazel eyes. She wore her hair down with a cleaning bandana around the back of her head. The product of a family caught between the chaos of the Revolution and the peace of the Meiji.

A rueful thought came across his mind just then. This whole incident had been caused by the war; by him. It was not clear which side they supported; it was difficult to tell these days. But the truth is that both sides suffered severe consequences for things they had no control over. That was the sad thing about war. Even when you fight for your own ideals to make things better, the innocents suffer.But as far as he was concerned, no one in his sight would be left unprotected.

"I believe I've heard enough. Leave, while you still can," was the icy order directed to all four thugs as he took the stand. He motioned to Naomi to move aside. She gave him a somewhat confused look, but quickly rushed over to a large tree a few feet in the distance. Watching her retreating form stop and face him, Himura gazed steadily up at his opponents as they completely surrounded him, creating a large wall that blocked his view. Not that he would be without the view for long; in a matter of seconds, all four walls would be tumbling down.

"Alright, let's do this thug style! This is what you get, kid, for meddling in other peoples' business!" At that, all four came at him, the man straight behind him going to pull him, once again, into a choke hold. Natsuki pulled back his right fist, aiming to strike Kenshin.

_Typical thug approach. One person hold target, right straight, left kick, improvise._

Anticipating their moves, Kenshin ducked away from the man before he could grab a hold of him, avoiding Natsuki's right straight. In a flurry of successive strikes, all four men fell to the ground. It seemed the reversed blade didn't slow him down as much as he thought. His eyes narrowed, molten fire glaring down at the thugs.

"I suggest you rethink the idea of terrorizing people…it is not worth the consequences," the ex-hitokiri said hardly, sheathing his blade with a practiced flick of the wrist before stepping over the groaning men and heading in the direction of the dirt path he had been traveling on before this encounter.

"Wait!" A voice called out from behind. Stopping in his tracks, Kenshin looked over his shoulder at Naomi running towards him. She stood beside him, panting with her hands on her knees. He sure was quick, even if he was just walking. _He must be in a rush for something…_

She pulled her head up and sucked in a breath. Realizing she was an inch or so shorter than the man standing before her, she pushed herself up onto her tips of her geta as to appear more intimidating.

"Are you just going to leave? You come, knock people out, and then walk away! Do you knowhow much _trouble_ you've just caused?!" She fumed, "I have to fix up all these moron's wounds now! You owe me! And guess what? The hotel is short on hands, so that's how you're going to pay up!"

Kenshin pulled his face away from the raging girl before him, and held his hands up in a defensive manner. So much for not causing a stir!

"Hiruka-san, I can't-"

"Oh, believe me! You can and you will! We're heading back to otou-san's hotel, whether you want to or not. "

Kenshin blinked. This girl was the definition of "up in your face". He slowly slid one foot back, meaning to make a run for it. Like hell he was staying with this bi-polar nut case! He turned on his heel, making a break for his escape.

Too bad he didn't get that far.

"Oh no you don't!"

Suddenly a strong arm latched onto the back of his gi, wrenching him back towards the girl. He remained calm until he began to feel a very faint pulling sensation turn into a full out tow.

Amber eyes visibly widened. _Don't tell me this girl is going to drag me there! _He mentally yelped, in utter disbelief at her outlandish actions.

Kenshin had never had much interaction with women, but he did not need to be an expert to tell that he was in one hell of a mess.

_To be continued…

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**Author**: Hahahahahahaha! That was _so _not how I planned Naomi to come out! I have a plan for her, though.

I want to get one thing straight about the Hiruka girl. She is NOT some amazing martial artist. I'll explain more about her when I get to it. Also, she looks like a fierier version of Tsubame; not so girly looking. She is not an ugly character, but she isn't over the top beautiful. Just pretty, and even a little on the plainer side. Her looks are somewhat based on a friend of mine. And I promise her personality is a little deeper than it appears in this chapter.

She is actually a little bi polar, and can be pretty naïve, has no common sense, and is overly blunt. She has NO idea who Kenshin is at the moment, and will not know for a while. (Every OC I have is based on someone I know, by the way.) Oh, and Kenshin will not have a crush on her or vice versa. I don't do OC-canon pairings.

Oh, and another thing! This was supposed to focus on Kenshin's dead personality. Remember, this is only a few weeks after he left Toba Fushimi; so this is his first real encounter with people. He will gain a little more humanity by the end of the fic. But he will not have his magenta gi or his low pony tail (unless you all want him to). I personally thought RurouniGochan did such an amazing job of showing how he turned into the rurouni; I want to show a little bit of a gradual change in the way he thinks and speaks in the first bit of his ten year adventure.

But enough of that (It was so long of a note)! Please tell me what you think, for reviews are my life source (along with good chocolate)!

Punch Buggy, Oh unholy fanfic writer. (Who has terrible grammar skills that can barely be titled "skills".)


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